ALTA Competency Exam|120 Questions and Answers
affix - Correct Answersprefix or suffix added to a base word. ex. unhelpful
active learning - Correct
... [Show More] Answerslearning in which the learner mentally searches for connections between new and already known information
allophone - Correct Answersa variation of a speech sound (/t/ in top, stop, spits, swift)
analytic - Correct Answerspertaining to instruction or a process that separates WHOLE into its PARTS. Analytic phonics separates a whole word into its parts so students can deduce the phonics relationships of the separate orthographic patterns
angular gyrus - Correct Answersan area of the brain for visual-verbal associations
anomaly - Correct Answersirregularity; deviation from the common notion of fitness or order
ARD - Correct Answersadvanced reading deck; shows only the letter
auditory discrimination - Correct AnswersNecessary to "break the code" for reading. It involves being able to perceive the differences between speech sounds and to sequence these sounds into meaningful words.
base word - Correct Answersthe simplest form of an English word; a word without affixes, such as spell
benchmark measures - Correct Answersprogress measurement administered at the end of each schedule, when students have had enough practice
breve - Correct Answersa diacritical marking that indicates a short vowel sound
Broca's area - Correct Answersposterior portion of the frontal lobe that is in charge of phonological processing and semantics of language. This are in the front left of the brain is responsible for EXPRESSIVE language - articulating spoken words and analyzing words
Broca's aphasia - Correct Answersperson cannot get the words out but understands
cedilla - Correct Answersa diacritical mark (,) placed below the letter c to indicate that it is pronounced as an s
chameleon prefix - Correct Answersa prefix whose final consonant changes based on the initial letter of the root (in- changes to ir- before regular, irregular); done for euphony
circumflex - Correct Answersa diacritical mark (^) placed above a vowel in a combination to indicate accented syllable
coarticulation - Correct Answersadjacent sounds often are spoken in such a way that one phoneme seems to overlap, is changed by, and/or modifies another. Coarticulation is the way the brain organizes sequences of vowels and consonants, interweaving the individual movements necessary for each into one smooth whole. In fact, the process applies to all body movement, not just speech, and is part of how homo sapiens work.
combination - Correct Answerstwo letters in a single syllable when one makes an unexpected sound or stand in an unexpected sequence: ar, er, ir, or, ur, qu, wh
co-morbidity - Correct AnswersMore than one deficiency such as dysgraphia/ disorder of reading comprehension; phonological processing speed/ written expression.
consonant - Correct Answersa class of speech sounds with airflow that is constricted or obstructed
decoding - Correct Answersreading; blending letters to read
derivative - Correct Answersa word made from another by adding a suffix or prefix
diacritical markings - Correct Answersa dictionary mark indicating pronunciation
dieresis - Correct AnswersA technical name of two dots placed over the letter a to indicate it's short o pronunciation or on the a before r.
digraph - Correct Answerstwo letters that make one sound
diphthong - Correct Answerstwo vowels standing adjacent in the same syllable whose sounds blend smoothly together in one syllable. Only 4 in the English language: oi, oy, ou, ow
direct instruction - Correct Answersexplicitly teaching a concept
discovery teaching - Correct Answerstherapist allows students to discover information by asking them questions rather than by telling
double-deficit hypothesis - Correct AnswersDeficiency in both phoneme awareness and naming speed
Dyscalculia - Correct Answersdifficulty with math
Dysarthia - Correct Answersneurological oral-motor dysfunction including weakness of the musculature necessary for making the coordinated movements of speech production
dysgraphia - Correct Answersinvolves difficulty with writing in the actual motor patterns used in writing and/or formulation of written composition
dysnomia - Correct Answersdifficulty in word finding
Dyspraxia - Correct AnswersDifficulty with motor planning; impacts upon a person's ability to coordinate appropriate body movements
echolalia - Correct Answersrepetition of words or phrases just spoken
elison - Correct Answersthe omission of a sound or syllable in a word in pronunciation; a language task in which a part is taken away -- also known as deletion
Elkonian boxes - Correct Answersan instructional technique to build phonemic awareness in which the teacher draws a series of squares, repeats a word, and then asks the student to place a token in the appropriate number of boxes to indicate how many phonemes in the target word. E.g., for the target word wish, the students would select three tokens and place each of them in three different boxes
embedded phonics - Correct AnswersPA & phonics taught implicitly through reading real words in text
encoding - Correct Answersspelling; unblending sounds to spell
equivocal sounds - Correct Answersuncertain; applied to a letter that represents more than one sound or to a sound that is spelled in more than one way
ethnographic observation - Correct Answersa type of qualitative research in which researchers observe, listen, and ask questions to collect descriptive data in order to understand the content, context, and dynamics of an environment
etymology - Correct Answersthe origin or derivation of a word
explicit phonics - Correct AnswersDirectly tells sounds of letters; teaches how to blend sounds together.
Fernald Method - Correct Answerstechnique for learning words that involves the visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile (VAKT) modalities. The student looks at a word while saying and tracing it.
fluency - Correct Answersreading like we speak so we can gain meaning from text; composed of accuracy, rate, and prosody
fMRI - Correct Answersfunctional magnetic resonance imaging; technology that allows researcher to see which parts of the brain are getting the most blood flow -- and hence are the most active
gerund - Correct Answersan English word ending in -ing & used as a noun (she loves baking and cooking)
guided discovery - Correct Answersa method of leading students to new learning through questioning
grapheme - Correct Answersa significant visual shape; a single letter or letter cluster which represents a speech sound
graphomotor - Correct Answerspertaining to the skillful coordination of the muscle groups involved in handwriting
graphophonemic - Correct AnswersLetter-Sound;
Graphophonemic knowledge is phonics.
haptic - Correct AnswersTactile, kinesthetic, and surface movement sensations obtained through the fingers and hands.
implicit phonics - Correct AnswersSounds never pronounced in isolation.
Learners are expected to induce sounds that correspond to letter from accumulated auditory and visual exposure to words containing those letters.
IRD - Correct AnswersInitial Reading Deck. It contains the keywords.
ISD - Correct AnswersInstant Spelling Deck. It is green.
left temporal cortex - Correct Answersarea of the brain for language comprehension
left frontal cortex - Correct Answersarea of the brain for speech production
occipital cortex - Correct Answersarea of the brain for visual processing
macron - Correct Answersa diacritical marking that indicates the long sound of a vowel
Matthew Effect - Correct Answersa term coined by Stanovich to describe a phenomenon observed in findings of cumulative advantage for children who read well & have good vocabularies and cumulative disadvantage for those who don't, and thus have lower rates of achievement. Term coined after Biblical passage from the book of Matthew
medial - Correct Answerseverything except initial and final; letters B-Y in the alphabet
Modality/Learning Channel - Correct Answerspathway or channel by which students learn. V-A-K
modification - Correct Answersa term used to refer to changes in how an alternate assessment is administered
morpheme - Correct Answersthe smallest meaningful linguistic unit; a morpheme may be a whole word, base word, prefix, suffix, or root word. Bound morpheme: a morpheme that must be attached to other morphemes (-ed in spotted, -s in boys, pre- in preview). Free morpheme: a morpheme that can stand alone as a whole word (box, plant, tame); also called unbound morpheme.
morphology - Correct Answersstudy of the structure and form of words in language including inflection, derivation, and formation of compounds
layers of language - Correct Answers3-5% other
10-12% Greek
60% Latin
20-25% Anglo-Saxon/Old English
Multisensory Teaching - Correct AnswersUtilization of more than one pathway to learning: visual, auditory, kinesthetic.
onset - Correct Answersinitial consonant sound(s) of a syllable (BL ack)
Orton-Gillingham Approach - Correct AnswersMultisensory method of teaching language-related academic skills that focuses on the structure and use of sounds, syllables, words, sentences, and written discourse. Instruction is explicit, systematic, cumulative, direct, and sequential.
orthography - Correct Answerscorrect written spelling
phoneme - Correct Answerssound that is indicated by parentheses = (t) or /t/; there are 44 speech sounds in English
Phonemic Awareness - Correct Answersan awareness that speech is composed of a series of individual phonemes
phonetics - Correct Answersthe study of the characteristics of speech sounds
phonological awareness - Correct Answersan awareness of the sound structure of spoken language apart from its meaning and a conscious ability to detect, combine, and manipulate different sizes of sound units
rhyme - Correct Answersmatching the endings of words (cat, bat, hat)
alliteration - Correct Answersproducing groups of words that begin with the same initial sound (ten tiny tadpoles)
sentence segmentation - Correct AnswersSegmenting sentences into spoken words.
Ex: The Dog ran away.
1 2 3 4
syllable segmentation - Correct AnswersSegmenting words into syllables.
Ex: bas ket ball
onsets and rimes blending and segmenting - Correct Answersblending and segmenting the initial consonant or cluster (onset) and the vowel and consonant sounds spoken after it (rime); /m/ /ice/ /sh/ /ake/
compound words - Correct Answersblending and segmenting spoken words into 2 words
Phonemes Blending & Segmenting - Correct AnswersBlending phonemes into words, segmenting words into individual phonemes and manipulating phonemes in spoken words:
VC, CV, CVC, CCVC, CVCC, CCVCC
Ex: At, Po, Cat, Step, Fast
phonological awareness continuum - Correct Answersrhyme --> alliteration --> sentence segmentation --> syllable segmentation --> compound words blending and segmenting --> onset/rime blending and segmenting --> phoneme blending and segmenting
Phonology - Correct Answerssound structure of speech, particularly, the perception, representation, and production of speech sounds
prefix - Correct Answersa letter or group of letters added to the beginning of a base word to change its meaning, such as misspell
pre-review - Correct Answersa reminder of necessary procedures and review of concepts being practiced
primary language skills - Correct AnswersSpeaking and hearing. Generally born with these.
prosody - Correct Answersrhythm (tempo), intonation (pitch and loudness) and phrasing in reading
rapid automatic/automatized naming - Correct AnswersRAN
rime - Correct Answerspart of a syllable that contains a vowel and all consonant sounds that come after it (bl-ACK)
root - Correct Answersthe essential element of a word without affixes or endings. A root may or may not be a full English base word: pro-gress, pre-cede, or dis-rupt
schwa - Correct AnswersA symbol represented by an inverted e. It is the sound of an obscure (a) found at the end of an unaccented syllable.
secondary language skills - Correct AnswersReading, spelling, and writing. Generally learned.
semantics - Correct Answersthe aspect of language concerned with meaning
sibilant - Correct Answersa speech sound which is uttered with or accompanied by a hissing sound (/s/, /z/, /sh/, /zh/)
strephosymbolia - Correct Answersterm meaning "twisted symbols" coined by Dr. Samuel T. Orton to describe specific dyslexia
Skills for Organizing and Reading Efficiently - Correct AnswersSkORE
Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review (SQ3R) - Correct AnswersStudy method in which student surveys the assignment, poses a question, reads to answer the question, recites the answer to the question, and reviews the material read.
subvocalization - Correct AnswersThe movement of the lips, tongue, and larynx during silent reading
suffix - Correct Answersone or more letters added to the end of a base word that changes its form or usage (ing, ed, er, es, s, ful)
Inflectional suffixes - Correct Answerscan modify the tense of the words (to jump: jumps, jumped, jumping). The suffixes -s, -es, -ed, and -ing account for 62% of all suffixed words.
syllable - Correct Answersa word or part of a word with one vowel sound
syntax - Correct Answersa set of principles that dictate the sequence and function of words in a sentence in order to convey meaning
synthesize - Correct Answersblend or continue to form into a whole
synthetic phonics - Correct Answerspertaining to instruction or a process that begins with individual letter sounds that are blended together to form a word. Phonics programs utilize this philosophy. Reader blends or synthesizes sounds into words.
typography - Correct Answersthe physical appearance of written letters such as whether they are upper or lowercase or formed in cursive or print
tilde - Correct Answersa diacritical mark (~) placed over a vowel in a combination or a dipthong: or, ou
unequivocal sounds - Correct Answersclear; an unequivocal letter represents only one sound (/b/, /t/, /l/, /h/). An unequivocal sound is regularly spelled only one way.
VAKT - Correct Answersvisual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile
voiced/voiceless sounds (cognates) - Correct Answersphonemes produced in the same place of the mouth and in the same manner but that vary in the voicing characteristic (/k/ and /g/)
vowel - Correct Answersa class of open speech sounds produced with the passage of air through an open vocal tract (open & voiced)
Wernicke's Aphasia - Correct Answersperson speaks with ease but does not understand language
word blindness - Correct Answersterm used in the late 19th & 20th centuries for dyslexia. Word blindness now refers to acquired alexia, "the loss or diminution of ability of reading ability resulting from/or brain trauma, a tumor, or a stroke" (Shaywitz, 2003)
nasal phoneme - Correct Answersa sound produced by forcing air through the nose (m, n, ng)
stop/plosive phoneme - Correct Answersa sound in which the outgoing air flow is completely stopped (p, b, t, d, c, g)
fricative phoneme - Correct Answersa sound that is produced by forcing air through a narrow opening between the teeth and lips to make a hissing sound (s, z, sh, zh, th, th, f, v, z, h)
affricate phoneme - Correct Answersa consonant sound that consists of a slowly released stop followed by a fricative (ch, j)
glide phoneme - Correct Answersflowing and vowel-like (y, w)
liquid phoneme - Correct Answersa sound produced when the lips and/or tongue are passing from the position for one sound to that of another (r, l)
accent - Correct Answersstress or emphasis on one syllable in a word or one part of a word; sound is louder, longer & higher. Mouth is open wider while saying an accented syllable.
Derivations suffixes - Correct Answerscan change the part of speech (please: pleasant, pleasantly, pleasurable). The suffixes -able (-ible), -ness, and -ly make up 27% of all suffixed words [Show Less]